Blah...no snow day. Annoying.

Now to be positive, I had a great victory last night. Stephen wanted to go out to eat for dinner. We almost never go out to eat during the week but he'd been thinking about it all day so out we went. He was wanting a hamburger so we went to bar/brewery type restaurant. Stephen wanted to share an appetizer so we got a cheese dip thing (was supposed to be spinach cheese dip but it was pretty much just a cheese dip) with chips and flatbread to share. It wasn't a huge appetizer at all but after we finished eating it and were going to order our entrees, I realized I wasn't hungry at all. I already had picked out what I wanted to eat but when the waitress came by I didn't order anything. And when Stephen got his food, I ate 3 or 4 croutons off his salad but that was it. No bite of his burger and he even offered to give me half but I just wasn't hungry. Normally I would have ordered something on my own or eaten half of his burger but I'm really trying to listen to my body lately and it was saying that it wasn't hungry. And I didn't get hungry later on in the evening. I did eat a small peanut butter cookie from a batch I was making for work but that was b/c I felt the need for something sweet before going to bed.

I've noticed since I started doing my early morning workouts that during the mornings I'm much hungrier than I am at night. So I've been having a substantial breakfast (with my pre-workout granola bar, close to 600 calories), a 10 am snack (around 200 cals), a substantial lunch (400-500 calories) and then at dinner I've only been eating around 300 calories simply because I'm not that hungry. I also usually have something sweet a couple of hours after dinner for around 200 calories. This seems to be working really well for me. I don't like feeling stuffed when I go to sleep and since I'm burning more calories in the morning (by workouts or running or both) it makes sense to fuel my body the most during those hours. Anyway, just an observation.

It's Snowing!!

Yep, it's snowing in DC! We've had a few flurries so far this season but this is the first snowfall that is actually sticking to the ground. It's so pretty!! Tonight it's supposed to change to ice/freezing rain so we might get a snow day tomorrow (fingers crossed). If it's just snowing at lunch then I'm going to head out for a run...I love running when it's snowing. It feels like I'm in a snowglobe...love it!!

Enough with the gushing about snow (I'm sure you Canadians think I'm nuts to be so excited over snow)...I did a yoga exercise from our video on demand service this morning. Um, I'm not flexible at all!! All the flexibility I used to have from doing yoga 5 years ago is completely gone. Definitely something to keep working on. The exercise I did was just a 10 minute Morning Yoga routine so it was a lot of good stretching and nothing too strenous. I liked the instructor too. I have a yoga DVD with Denise Austin and I do not like the way she instructs...she tells you what to do after she's already started doing it and then I feel behind. I like it when you get the instructions slightly before the instructor starts doing the moves so you know what's next. Anyways, this morning's yoga was perfect after my time on the elliptical. I still want to do the Shred this week and right now have it planned for Thursday morning but if we have a snow day tomorrow I might do it then.

Well, I'm tired today (Stephen kept getting up during the night which in turn wakes me up) so I think an extra cup of coffee is in order. Off to walk in the snow to Starbucks!! I might even go a little crazy and put some sugar free vanilla syrup into my black coffee to celebrate the snow. Madness I tell ya, absolute madness.

A screen filled weekend

We watched a lot of TV and movies this weekend. Stephen was sick and didn't feel like doing anything (totally understandable) so I rented us a few movies and we watched Netflix. Since Friday morning, here's what we watched:



Rentals

Rambo--lots of gore, my least favorite of everything

The Cleaner--pretty good, Stephen was not a fan

August--dumb, neither one of us liked it

Bangkok Dangerous--pretty good, my favorite of the 4 rentals



Netflix

4 episodes of JAG: Season 1

3 episodes of Las Vegas: Season 2



Movie Theatre

Gran Torino--good. In the beginning I didn't think I was going to like it but it is a good movie. Not as good as Slumdog Millionaire which is my absolute favorite so far this year. But Gran Torino is excellent.



TV--lots of random shows and movies...nothing too exciting.



Stephen and I were both so sick of watching a screen that last night we read for an hour instead of watching TV like we usually do. Of course, working out was nonexistent this weekend and my eating wasn't good but that's changing today.



I found out that since we now have digital cable, there are free exercise videos on demand. They even have the Jillian Micheals 30 day Shred that everyone's raving about. I hope to try out Shred and a few of the yoga ones later in the week.



Anyways, that was my boring and uneventful weekend. Hopefully, it's the last sick weekend we have this winter. Off to catch up on ya'lls more exciting weekends...

Smorgasbord

Whew! It's been a while. To catch you up on what I've been doing...last weekend was Stephen and my birthdays celebration. We had a great time being out of town for a couple of days and enjoyed eating at one of our favorite restaurants, Firebirds. On my birthday (Sunday) we ordered breakfast room service (I have always wanted to eat breakfast room service and now I have!), sat in the hot tub and just took our time getting ready and driving back to DC. Traffic was not bad at all...which was a pleasant surprise!

Monday and Tuesday we had off as federal holidays so we hung out. We weren't too productive but it was nice to be able to relax. We actually didn't even watch any of the inauguration stuff...I'm sure Obama is going to be a good president but living in DC for 3 years and hearing about politics 24/7 has made me so apathetic. And I'm sick of people thinking he's going to be a great president because he's black. It is wonderful that we have a president who is not a white male but just because he's black doesn't mean he'll be a good president. I'm waiting to see what he actually accomplishes before calling him a success. Anyways, I get annoyed when fitness/weight loss bloggers get all political so I'll stop there.

Wednesday and Thursday were work as usual. Definitely nothing exciting there. Oh, wait there was something exciting...I got a space heater for my office and let me tell you, it is wonderful!! I'm careful to turn it off and hide it before I leave everyday (since space heaters are prohibited). It is amazing to be able to be at work and not be covered up in blankets, sweaters and scarves!! I love it very much and wish I had been a rule breaker earlier!

Now to today...Stephen's sick (again). He woke up in the middle of the night throwing up and was up about every hour after that. When he wasn't throwing up, I was lying awake waiting for him to start again. I am exhausted. And I'm sure he's even more exhausted. So I stayed home with him today since he couldn't even sit up for two minutes without getting sick...there's no way he could take care of himself. I picked up some movies for him to watch and some soup and Gatorade. He just had the flu 2 weeks ago and here we are again. No idea what's wrong...we've both had flu shots but we're throwing away all of our peanut butter and PB items just in case they're part of the salmonella scare...we checked and they're not but after this second round of stomach stuff, we're just being cautious.

Well, Stephen thinks he keep some food down now so I'm going to make him lunch, scrub our apartment down with bleach to kill those nasty germs, and wash the sheets/bedding.

Have a great weekend everyone!!

Oh, and I'm loving Jen and Cat's fashion and beauty posts!! Even more reason to love Fridays!!

Finally Friday!

So glad its Friday!! And the Friday before a 4 day weekend (living in DC, federal employees get inauguration day off as well as MLK day)!! DC is going to be nuts this weekend. Stephen and I are headed out of town for Saturday and Sunday...its our birthdays (his last weekend, mine this weekend) celebration. Other than that, we have no big plans besides not driving or riding the Metro on inauguration day.

I went for a run yesterday at lunch...let me tell you, there have been few times when I've regretted going for a run and yesterday was one of them. The temperature itself wasn't so bad but the wind was horrendous. I did about 4 miles and called it good. I'm not going today since it's even colder but next week the temps are supposed to be back up to around 30 degrees. I did go to the gym this morning so missing my run isn't a big deal. Plus with all the prep for inauguration going on, the area where I run is going to be filled with barricades and people and vehicles getting ready for Tuesday.

I did it!

I did it! I ran at lunch yesterday!! However, for the first time since we've lived at our current apartment, I did not get up to workout this morning. I've been incredibly tired this week and needed the extra hour and a half of sleep. I am going to run at lunch again today (and it's even colder than yesterday) and I may try to make it the gym this afternoon/evening to get in some time on the elliptical.

We're having a cookie party tomorrow for someone's last day at work so I'll make a deal with myself that I can only have a cookie tomorrow if I do both my lunchtime run and a 30 minute workout this evening. Alright, it's a deal.

Speaking of cold weather running, I got to open my birthday present from Stephen last week even though my birthday isn't until this Sunday. He wanted me to go ahead and open it so if it was the wrong size we could send it back to exchange. He got me this North Face vest to wear when I'm running! I got the blue color. It's fantastic!! I love how it's got lots of pockets to stash my phone, ID, jelly beans (for long runs), and other stuff in it!! And it fits perfectly! I wanted a vest to wear when running and I would have never spent that kind of money on one for myself so I'm glad Stephen got it for me! So exciting! I've asked for some other running stuff from sister so I hope she listens and gets me the things I've asked for...both her and my mom like to get me knick-knack type stuff and I have nowhere to put that stuff and I'd rather have something I can actually use than something that's going to gather dust.

Interview

My interview went well. They've already contacted me again and asked if they can check my references and speak with my supervisor so that's a good sign. Honestly though, I'm not crazy about the job. It's a LOT of programming and programming is the thing I hate the most about my current job. Even though I'm not sure I would even accept the job if it was offered (jumping way ahead), I'm going to go ahead and tell them that they may contact my references/supervisor. Who knows what things are going to be like at my current job in a few weeks and I don't want to close the door on a possible job yet (even if it's a job I'm not crazy about). I need to keep my options open right now.

Other than that, it is soo cold here. I AM still going for a run today at lunch (I have to keep telling myself that...I chickened out on Monday). I also need to get a space heater for my office. They're forbidden but it's ridiculously cold in my office...I stay bundled up in one or two thick sweaters and a scarf, sit as curled up as possible, and wrap a thick blanket around my legs every day just to feel like I can function enough to get something done. And that is ridiculous! So I'm going to be a rule-breaker and get a space heater this weekend. I'm done with purple fingernails and goose bumps all day long.

I AM going to run at lunch. I AM going to run at lunch. I AM going to run at lunch. (Just reminding myself!!)

What I did on my 3 day weekend...

Hey lovely ladies!! How are your Mondays going? Mine's going okay...I've only been at work for an hour so it's hard to say what the day will hold but so far looks relatively easy.

Friday was my AWS day. I still woke up at 5 when Stephen got up and did some budgeting/bill paying/Swiffering before heading to the gym around 7. Then I ran several errands--pharmacy, grocery store, Target for Stephen's birthday present. We were predicted to get several inches of ice/snow on Saturday so Stephen left work early and we went to Costco to get a few staples. Then we came home and hung out for the rest of the evening.

Saturday we ran a couple of errands in the morning and then Stephen met up with some friends to watch a Georgetown basketball game and the Ravens/Titans playoff game. While he was gone I headed to the grocery store and then went for a longer-ish run. My marathon training doesn't start until January 19 but I still wanted to get in a longer run over the weekend. I headed out around 1:30 and the snow/ice/rain was predicted to start around 2:30 or so but it was still just a 50% chance. This was my first time running over by our new apartment and there's lots of bike trails near where we live...I was excited to get to try them out and see where they went!!

Papa mia (my stepdad who's more than a stepdad to me but I still don't feel right calling him Dad so I call him Papa mia) was coming into DC on Saturday for a conference. So he was texting me when he got into the airport and to his hotel. Anyways, he got in earlier than expected so I turned around earlier than I was planning but I'm so glad I did!! I headed back to the apartment and 10 minutes later it started sleeting!! And then 15 minutes later it changed to rain. The sleet I didn't mind so much b/c it rolled off my clothes but the rain soaked in. Anyhoo so I finished my run and was cold, sweaty, and in desperate need of a shower but I felt like such a badass out running when it was sleeting and raining.

After a nice toasty shower, I met up with papa mia and Stephen and we went to dinner. Sunday morning we came into DC to drop a case of Gatorade off at Stephen's office. Sunday was Stephen's birthday so I gave him his present ("We Are Marshall" DVD plus some coupons for back rubs/head rubs). Then we hung out at the apartment until papa mia was done with his meetings and we ate at La Tasca for Stephen's birthday dinner.

Even though it was a 3 day weekend, it felt really busy and I still have a list of stuff I didn't get done. Cannot wait until the 4 day weekend we have coming up!! (We have Martin Luther King Jr Day off as well as Inaguaration Day.)

Well I'm off to prep for my rescheduled interview tomorrow morning...I probably won't post tomorrow b/c I'm taking the whole day off. Once I'm done with my interview I'll be hanging out with papa mia before he leaves on Wednesday morning.

Rescheduled

I got a call this morning at 6:45 AM asking to reschedule my interview for today until next Tuesday. A person on the interview team is sick. Honestly, it didn't really affect me too much. I'm not nervous about the interview...I usually get nervous/anxious about 15 minutes before. Plus I feel like I did so many interviews last year for business school that I know my stuff really well. The only thing that slightly upset me about rescheduling was that I took off my pretty deep purple nail polish last night for the interview but no big deal.

Yesterday I did get to go for a run!! Woohoo!! I noticed on weather.com that it was supposed to stop raining for an hour and a half around 11:30 so I took full advantage and headed out. It wasn't the best run ever (I had to walk 1/2 because I couldn't breathe well...stuffed up head) but I did it and it felt good. I'm glad I went when I did because 5 minutes after I got back, it poured outside for a few hours. God heard my lament about clouds yesterday because for about 2 seconds when I was running, the sun peeked out and I just had to smile!!

Thursday's Things to Love:
1) Sun!! It's out today and I love it!! I already feel more energetic and pumped.
2) "Cold Case" on TNT at 4 and 5 in the morning. I get engrossed in an episode when I'm doing my cardio in the mornings and it makes the time fly!! I've always really liked that show anyways so I'm glad it's on so early. Today I was so involved in the episode that when my elliptical time was up at 5:45, I hurried upstairs to do my stretching in the apartment while watching the end so I could find out what happened.
3) Stephen got me a birthday present!! We usually don't do birthday presents for each other b/c our birthdays are one week apart...we just take a weekend trip and that's our present to each other. But because I was so disappointed in Christmas this year Stephen got me a present anyways. Awww! His birthday is on Sunday so I plan on getting him something small but birthdays aren't a big deal for him.

Rainy Weather Makes Me Grumpy

I am so freakin' tired of the rain and gloomy, dreary weather we've had for the last month. This girl needs her sunshine and blue skies to feel happy. And I desperately want to run but when it's pouring, running is a no-go. Grrr...I'm so mad at the weather right now. My body needs some Vitamin D. I can deal with cloudy skies because I can still run but rain I cannot deal with because it means no running and that makes me so sad. :(

Enough of being Miss Grumpy Grumperson about the weather. On to happier topics...like the workouts I can actually do. For my morning workouts I have been doing two strength days (15 minutes of cardio to warm up since it's 4:30 in the morning and 30 minutes of weights) and the remainder of the days as just 60 minutes of cardio (switched up between machines). Strength training is the one thing I really have to push myself to do...I'm a cardio girl through and through. I know that with my running at lunch (if the stupid freakin' weather would cooperate) I could do strength training every morning because I'm getting in the cardio by running; but for weights I do mostly upper body except for two or three exercises for my legs. I don't want to do anymore weights on my legs because I know that will make me sore and then my running will suffer. I am working in more sprints and hills while running than I was before and doing more resistance/inclines on the cardio machines to strengthen my legs.

Today's Plan:
Activity: 60 minutes cardio in apartment gym, 5.5 mile run at lunch (weather.com is showing light rain/drizzle for 10am-noon and I NEED to run so if it's not raining too hard I'm going)
Pre-Workout Snack: Cereal bar
Breakfast: 1/3 cup oatmeal, 1/2 banana, 1/2 cup milk, sprinkle of sugar and 2 tsp. cocoa powder (inspired by Lynn's yummy chocolate oatmeal), 1 Tbsp chocolate peanut butter, 15g slivered almonds
Snack: 1 cup milk, 1 Sugar Free Carnation Instant Breakfast packet, bar of some kind out of my snack drawer
Lunch: vegetable soup, Whole Grain goldfish, spinach and tomatoe salad with Italian dressing, baggie of veggies (carrots, peppers, cukes)
Snack: 100 cals worth of popcorn, 1 apple, 1 Emergen-C packet
Dinner: supposed to be pork chops, veggies, rice but I'm feeling like soup again (Chicken Noodle this time)
Dessert: Cinnamon Dolce biscotti and tea

Two A Days

It sure is hard to get back into the routine of waking up early when you're used to sleeping in a bit but it feels nice to have lots of things checked off today's to-do list before 9 am!!

I've been doing 2-a-day workouts for a couple of weeks now. I'm not training super hard for anything or doing it to increase my calorie burn. I'm doing it because I enjoy it (crazy I know!!). It started because I want to utilize the gym in my building but don't want to stop running. I could do a routine where I alternate running outside at lunch with using the gym in the mornings but I really crave routine and schedules. I decided (for now anyways) to get up in the mornings and use the gym and then run at lunch. This has worked fantastic so far because we've had rainy, yucky weather lately and I'm not always guaranteed a lunchtime run. Then I don't have to try and squeeze something in during the evening if I don't get to run at lunch since I've already worked out that morning.

I've increased my calories on days that I do 2-a-days. The first week I tried to do 2 workouts a day but keep my calories around 1600 and not surprisingly, that didn't work at all!! I was way too hungry. I've now increased my calories to 2000 on the days I do 2 workouts a day reasoning that I burn 400 calories a workout and don't want my body to go into starvation mode. So far this seems to be working much better.

Anyhoo, Stephen's feeling much better. Still home sick today but I think he's planning on going into work tomorrow. He's almost back to 100%. And I hope I don't get whatever he had.

Well, ladies, I've got a job interview (!!!--first one in 9 months of applying) on Thursday so I've got to do some prep. Good thing is with all the school interviews I just did a few months ago, I feel really prepared already.

Welcome 2009!

Sorry to be so cryptic on my last post...things are better now and I'm feeling much more positive about life in general. It's hard to be upbeat when you despise your workplace. But I can at least make an effort and continue to search for other jobs rather than wallowing in self-pity.

My sister and her hubs were here last week for a few days. We had a lot of fun catching up and seeing some DC sights they hadn't seen. They even took us out for cheesecake one night to celebrate my birthday (which isn't for a few more weeks)! The only bad thing about the trip...Stephen has the flu or some kind of bug now. My sis was around my littlest niece (who has been really sick with the flu) and so we think she brought the bug with her but Stephen might have gotten it somewhere else. Anyways, not so important how Stephen got it. Saturday after we took my sis and bro-in-law to the airport, Stephen slept for several hours. Then yesterday he pretty much stayed in bed all day. Which says a lot about how sick he's feeling b/c even if he's sick, he's still usually up and moving around but yesterday he just laid down all day.

Enough with the sick talk...let's talk about Christmas and New Year's. The two most exciting Christmas presents I got this year were a pair of slippers that feel like heaven (seriously love, love, love them!!) and the Nike + iPod sports kit. You might remember that my MP3 player died a couple of weeks before my half...my sister was getting an iPhone from her hubs for Christmas so she brought me her previously loved iPod to use since she has no use for it now. My mom got me the sports kit (which I knew I was getting b/c I specifically asked for it but I was not any less excited). I tested the kit & iPod out today on my first run of 2009 and I love it!! I've been running with my HRM and I could estimate my pace or distance, depending on what my running plan was for that specific run. But with the kit, it gives me all of that info right there on the iPod screen. So cool!! It will really be beneficial when I start my marathon training in a few weeks since I'm one of those runners that just runs wherever I feel like going...I don't map out a path before leaving. Plus I'd like to work on being faster and having my pace easily accessible will keep me from having a brain explosion trying to do math while running.

Now time for my 2009 Plans. I have an entire page (most are a continuation of things I'm already doing) broken up into different areas of my life which I won't bore you with but I want to share some that are relevant to this blog:

Running
Finish a marathon--on the calendar for April 26, start training on January 19
Complete another half with time < 2:30
Run other local races (10Ks, etc.)

Strength
Two 30 minute strength workouts a week

Flexibility
Stretch after each workout
Practice yoga or Pilates once a week

Relationship with myself
Continue with stopping negative self-talk

The last one I'd like to talk a little bit more about...a few months ago I started listening to the things my little voice was saying to me and I was so saddened. They were horrible and cruel!! Things I would never, ever say to anyone and here I was saying them to myself. Why was I talking to myself like that?? No wonder I felt emotionally abused so much...I was abusing myself.

Not to get too deep but I remember hearing my mom talk about herself in such a negative way growing up plus not having the most emotionally supportive childhood...this self talk was a product of those situations. I don't know if I'll ever have children but if I do have a daughter I don't want her to have the relationship I've had with my body and body image.

So I decided that day I was no longer speaking to myself that way...anything my little voice said to me had to be something that I would want my daughter to hear. I broke up with the negative little voice and have met a wonderful replacement, a positive little voice. I've caught the little voice being negative and unencouraging a few times but I stop and think, "Would I want my daughter to hear me say these things about myself?" And every single time the answer's been no. It's still an ongoing process but I have to love and respect myself and my body. I don't know why I thought it was okay to hate my body...if it were another person saying these things to me, I wouldn't stick around and take the abuse so I don't know why I did it to myself but I do know I'm making a change.

Also, I don't know why thinking about a daughter I don't (and my never) have works for me but I suspect it's b/c of hearing my mom talk about herself so negatively for so long (she still does it all the time) and realizing the impact that it's had on me.